Mistakes to Avoid

By Maura Gergerich, Toppel Peer Advisor

We all know there is standard professional protocol at most companies. Things such as the expectation of a professional dress code and spending your time at work productively are standards everyone expects to be held to when you enter the working world. There are certain mistakes however that we all tend to fall towards as humans. These are some common things to be conscious of avoiding:

Backstabbing

This may seem obvious, but sometimes people try to go above someone’s head to avoid conflict. This tends to have the opposite effect. Doing anything that would make a colleague look bad in the eyes of their peers is a big red flag.

Gossip

Every once in a while everybody gets swept up in drama and participates in idle gossip. It’s a habit that very few people avoid falling victim to at some point. However, in a professional environment gossiping will make you look worse to your colleagues than whoever the drama is surrounding.

Taking credit for something you didn’t do

This basically shows that you have no regard for another person and their hard work. We’ve all experienced someone stepping in to steal credit from us at one time or another. The reality is that it will get out that what you are taking credit for is not your own and that will likely make people question the other work you have performed.

Emotional outbursts

Avoiding emotional outbursts does not mean that you aren’t allowed to have emotions at all and must go around the office like a heartless robot. This simply means that issues should be discussed calmly and rationally. Not only will this look better on you, but someone is more likely to respond to a rational argument than to someone screaming and throwing chairs.

Saying that you hate your job

You may have valid reasons, but save venting your frustrations for outside of the office. You don’t want to come across as a negative person. Supervisors will notice if you are a direct cause of low morale and plus if they hear that you don’t like working somewhere why would they want you to work for them?

Bragging

There is certainly nothing wrong with owning up to your accomplishments, but when your celebration gets excessive that’s when it will start to look bad on you. Gloating about one accomplishment can come across as if this doesn’t happen very often for you. Besides, how many times will the people around you want to hear about it? You want to be able demonstrate that you care about more than yourself which means focusing on others' accomplishments as well.

Lying

Even little white lies that seem harmless can be detrimental. If you are discovered being dishonest about something, no matter how small, people will be less likely to trust you in the future and more likely to assume you aren’t telling the truth about something larger.